Twice Upon A Marigold

As I was doing Once Upon A Marigold

I was also designing and cutting the other two.

Twice Upon A Marigold is just as fun as

the first with a lot charm and great detail.

The first sketch I had doesn't work for obvious reasons.

But I went back and made the title more prominent.

 It was getting closer. 

I just needed to switch some elements around

We were happy with this sketch so I started to cut it.

I always tweak little things here and there

while i'm cutting so I can get the composition I want.

I like it but some of the colors needed to be changed

and a few letters were hard to read.

So I fixed those. Here a few details:

I like how the water looks going to the back of the book.

It's a nice little touch that I wanted on all three covers. 

I really like how the colors on this one turned out

and I think it goes really well with the first book as well.

The book is available here and at your local bookseller.

You can glimpse an image of the third Marigold

cover on the back of Twice. That book comes April 16th.

I'll tell you about it then. Thanks again to 

Elizabeth Tardiff for the amazing art direction!

Once Upon A Marigold

Last year I got to work on the covers for

reissues of the Marigold series by Jean Ferris.

They are wonderful fairy tale/ fantasy books for

pre-teens with lots of great characters and details.

For the cover, they wanted those details to
interact with the title of the book. I drew elements as

I read the book. Here was the sketch I  

came up with as I read the book.

They liked the dogs but wanted me to show more castle. 

I went back to the drawing board and refined it.

I tightened up a few elements and went to finish.

Here are a few details: 

 

And here it is in book form. I love it!

The book is available here and at you local book seller. 

I'm really happy with how it came out. 

Especially with how it works alongside

the other two. But i'll show you those later.

Thanks to Elizabeth Tardiff for the absolutely 

wonderful art direction!

Edutopia - How To Thank A Teacher

I had the great opportunity to create a 

 third guide for Edutopia this year.

This one is about a great subject:

How To Thank ATeacher!

Just in time for the holidays!

As it was with the other guides, I did the 

border, cover, and spots on the inside. 

I even cut that Edutopia logo up on top! 

This guide has tons of useful information about 

gift giving and ways of showing appreciation for

the remarkable people that are teachers.

I wasn't sure about my idea of the apple peel 

looking like it said "thank you" but I think it 

turned out pretty nice. Here are a few other spots.

 There were even a couple that didn't make the cut.

No pun intended. 

An appreciation sticker and the ugliest sweater ever!

These guides have been really fun to illustrate.

It's everything I love to draw and an amazing client.

You can get the whole guide here at their site where

you can get the other two guides I did as well. 

I feel like me and Edutopia are a match made in heaven.  

Giant Robot Post It Show 8

I have the awesome honor of being in 

Giant Robot's Eighth Post It Show!

The show starts Saturday December 8th at 6 PM.

There are soo many amazing artist, so get there early.

More details here.

April Fools Day!!

Here is a desktop wallpaper for the first day of April.

iPhone/iPodTouch

iPad

This wallpaper will self destruct if used on any other day.

The Washington Post - Local Living

I had the awesome privilege of illustrating

the cover of the Washington Post's Local Living.

It is their Back To School edition. I was asked to create

the words "back to school" with school supplies.

I also illustrated a stack of books for the table of contents...

And the section headers:

I thought it was going to be a big challenge to try and integrate

all of the back to school supplies but once I made a list of

everything I could draw, it was smooth sailing.

Thanks to Tippi Thole for the art direction

and amazing suggestions!

GOOD Magazine - Smart Meters

I did some illustrations for the 022 issue

of GOOD Magazine. The article is on smart

electric meters that read and analyze

your electricity use in real time.

I went kinda crazy with sketches cause they

were really really ridiculously fun to draw.

They liked them so much, they asked that I

draw/cut three of them to keep their character.

I loved doing all three and I could have done

way more of these. They ended up only running

the last one with the multiple meters but I think

it looks super cool in the magazine.

Thanks to Atley for the great art direction.

He's a good dude and a snappy dresser.

Wednesday Wallpaper - Halloween!!

I know! I know! It's been a while.

I love Halloween, probably because my mom

didn't let us dress up when I was little.

So now I dress my kid up every other day.

The Munsters Wallpaper

Bless This Web Wallpaper

Candy Corn Wallpaper

Pete confuses costumes for disguises. He's such a good spy.

iPhone/ iPod Wallpaper

Hope you like them.

There's much more to come next week.

Wallpaper Wednesday - Dylan

This week is another sneak peek at a

piece I did Los Angeles, I'm Yours.

It's a little chaotic but I think it looks great as a wallpaper.

This is only about a third of the actual piece so come out on

Saturday night and see the rest of it. There will be music,

custom made ice cream from Scoops, and amazing art.

Sounds like a great night to me!

Wednesday Wallpaper - Mine Mountain

This weeks wallpaper is about declaring what is yours.

Before anyone else.

This image actually started over

two years ago in a sketchbook.

Give your iPod a more outdoorsy look.

Let me know if these sizes aren't working for you.

I'll try to cut you a different size.

Measure once, cut twice...wait. I should know this.